I'm a Libertarian living in Humboldt County, CA. I've lived here in Eureka since 1973 and joined the Libertarian Party in 1992. This blog will mostly focus on local political issues, but I may stray into state and national issues as well, when I can't help myself. Please post your comments by clicking on the "comments" link at the bottom of each post. Although I do moderate comments, you need not be a registered user to post them.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Supremes Back Drug Dog Search

I mentioned last year, the Supreme Court was going to hear two cases regarding the validity of drug dog searches. They decided one of them yesterday ruling that, despite a dog alerting falsely on the same vehicle twice, the dog's alerts were still grounds for probable cause for a search.

The way I read it, the justices are saying it doesn't matter what the false alert rate of drug dogs are. That they were certified through an official drug dog training course, alone, validates their alerts as sufficient.

This is almost the exact opposite of the sort of ruling I thought would be proper. What this means is that anybody, drug user or not, can be searched on a whim if a drug dog decides for one reason to another to alert on your car or home.

The death of a thousand cuts continues, and I'm sure we'll see this case used as precedent by courts in the future to further eviscerate protections against illegal search and seizures.

1 Comments:

The Supreme Court is more a guise and ruse than ever before. It no longer is a separate and unbiased, unprejudiced or disciplined function of government, and has been so for quite some times. The ruling with Obama Care was another treatise of epic proportions. It seems the Supreme Court is "in bed with world leaders and elites" using Americans as a "prop device".

Maybe, it is time to load-up on animal (dog) pheromones to frack with police dogs? The handlers would have a heck of a time controlling the reactions! - HOJ